We are a Zen Buddhist community of practice inspired by the Zen Peacemaker tradition. You may see us in our temple or bearing witness on city streets and marginalized places. You may see us renewing our vows in hoodies and street clothes or in Zen robes. We’re making the heart of Zen practice relevant today.
Through temple and community practice, we endeavor to welcome in all the parts of ourselves and society, especially those parts that tangle us up or we have previously rejected, so that we can see ourselves as other and other as ourselves.
Our Zen practice is grounded in the Soto Zen tradition in America, and the Three Tenets of the Zen Peacemakers:
NOT KNOWING
letting go of fixed ideas about ourselves, others, and the universe.
BEARING WITNESS
to both the joy and the suffering of the world.
HEALING ACTIONS
that arise from Not Knowing and Bearing Witness.
In our community, we uphold Zen Buddhist practices as a foundation, while embracing and integrating diverse religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions. This approach, which seems called for in our diverse society, enhances our commitment to social action, spiritual companionship, and service. We focus our work practice on supporting those who feel marginalized, alienated, or isolated due to economic status, age, ability, health, or identity. Rather than a political ideology, this is a practical application of the teachings in places of suffering. In using Zen practices to open our hearts, widen our perspectives, stabilize our minds, and receive the perspectives of others, we turn our attention to the complexities of suffering at the intersections of economics, ecology, community, care, and culture. We aim to foster inner awareness and personal responsibility for the conditions of the world. Our mission is to transform suffering into wisdom and compassion by uniting people from varied life experiences in a collective effort to promote a sense of understanding and belonging across differences. This is how we practice to manifest the oneness of life.
